Jett said, “I don’t know what day it is, and you’ve got me blindfolded with my hands handcuffed behind my back so I couldn’t see a watch if I had one. I know we’re in a parking lot by the La Brea Tar Pits because I can smell the asphalt, does that help?”
The cameraman said the date and time, then the film ended.
“That help you?” John Wesley said.
I nodded. It helped a lot because now I knew where Jett was, that she was handcuffed, and that there were two guards on her. Great, so
now what?
I followed John Wesley to a large display of Saber Tooth cat skulls set up near the front entrance. He pointed at the skulls and said, “You stay here.” He left, and I tried to ignite every synapse in my brain to figure out what to do.
While I waited, I played with some of the big cat skulls. The display was hands-friendly and allowed visitors to move the jaws, demonstrating how wide the animal’s mouth had to open so it could use the six-inch long canines when bringing down prey.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and Loomis, from the Seven-Eleven said, “Hey Ronny, I didn’t know you were into Smilodon, too.”
“Loomis!” I said, “Am I glad to see you.”
Loomis said, “Well, you could come by more often to visit. You know where I work.”
“I will, I will. But right now, I need your help. It’s about…,” and I leaned close and whispered, “E.”
Loomis’ eyes got big, making them enormous when viewed through the bottom-of-a-coke-bottle thick lenses of his eyeglasses. “What is it?”
I said, “Don’t make it obvious, but do you see those three men off to my right? One of them’s a black man wearing a cowboy hat.”
Loomis peeked over my shoulder and said, “I see them.”
I said, “They’ve kidnapped a woman.”
“Elvis isn’t a woman.”
“I know, but this woman-“
“E likes women a whole lot, but he doesn’t dress up in their clothes or anything.”
“Loomis, please let me finish.”
“Okay, but you sure ramble on a lot, Ronny. You should work on that.”
“I will. Now, the woman is in trouble and I need for you to get something to her.”
Loomis said, “I thought you said this was about Elvis.”
“It is. They’re going to use her to lure Elvis in and trap him and…make him call down his alien friends and steal their Death Ray, just like you told me.”
Loomis peeked at John Wesley and the others again. His nostrils flared and his cheeks flushed. He said, “We’ll see about that.”
“So, you’re with me on this?”
“You bet. What’s your plan?”
I said, “The woman’s in a black Mercedes in the museum parking lot and there’s two men guarding her. I’m going to create a diversion and when I do, I need for you to drop this in the woman’s lap and tell her it’s a lock pick.” I handed him my lock pick, the one I always kept in my wallet. I made sure Ajax and his crew didn’t see me, then I said, “And after you do that, get away and hide.”
“I could help the girl, or if I see E, I could warn him.”
“No, too dangerous for everyone. This will do it, Loomis. You are the main hero here; your job is the most important. Get her the pick, okay?”
“How will I know when to do it?”